Turning Dawn to Day
by Kain DeLuman
Summary: The sequil to They Call Me Kain, and the second book of the Light of the Dawn series. Chapter 5 is now up, i'll probably be updating this ALOT more often as i'm in college now and have no friends =)
1. Dreams & Prophecies

Dreams & Prophecies

This is the second book of the Light of the Dawn series, if you haven't read the first… go read it, it's called They Call Me Kain.

Some of the people places and things in this book are owned by Squarsoft inc.though most by this point are mine… Ha!

Dreams & Prophesies 

Kain ran down the corridor as fast as he could, but the abomination behind him pursued with such great vigor that he could never flee.It was coming too fast, and soon it would catch up to him, and he knew that this force, this being, could defeat him with ease.

The beast had showed up out of nowhere, and it wasn't that the beast was huge, or pulsing evil unfathomable energy, it was simply an abomination of sorts and something that Kain found so grotesque that he couldn't fight it, all that he could do was run.But the beast pursued him and he knew that sooner of later it would catch up to him and bring him to a land of pain and anguish, this he knew with the very fabric of his soul.

Kain looked forward from his running only to see a monstrous brick wall ahead of him, it blocked up the entire corridor in front of him and he knew the only choice that he had was to dive head first into it and pray to the wind that it broke down.So Kain did leap at the wall, but the wall did not budge and Kain came down back onto the floor.

Kain turned around to watch the beast's approach, but when he turned the corridor it was no longer there.Instead he was now laying down on a field of grass, so pristine and beautiful that the fear and near madness that was inside of him, melted away.Kain stood up and looked around at the field, he spun so that he could take in all of its beauty.Suddenly though something caught his eye, four people coming towards him.

At first Kain assumed that it was Dekan, Phantine, Dawne, and Naxos.But as the four figures approached he knew that it was not them.It was the four that he had fought with before, Cecil, Rosa, Rydia, and Edge.They approached him and encircled him so that every time Kain looked somewhere, there was only one person and the pristine, perfect field of grass.

"Who are you?"Rydia asked him.

"I am Kain, True Dragoon."

"Who are you?" Edge asked him.

"I am Kain, True Dragoon."This time he said that with more force.

"Who are you?"Cecil asked him.

"I am Kain! True Dragoon!"He shouted.

Rosa approached him and put her hand to his cheek and pulled him to her, then she looked up at him and said."Kain, you are a True Dragoon, but who are you?"

Kain was speechless; he couldn't even look at her.From the first time he had laid his eyes on her he knew that he loved her, but Cecil was always there.He wanted to love her so badly, but his honor forbade it... though Kain knew that he was a better man for never doing anything about his love for this unattainable woman.

Kain looked down at the grass at his feet, and said."I am... I am... I don't know who I am..."

Cecil took Kain's shoulder and said, "You who would save this world from the evil, you who would bring about the day, you who would defend the sacred dawn.And you do not know who you are?"

Kain felt a deep, deep feeling of remorse, self-doubt, and dishonor.He dropped to his knees and said."But I am not the Dawn!I am True Dragoon!All that I need to know about myself is that I am an honorable man of faith and power; power enough to help bring about the day!And so I will bring about the day!"He shouted to the sky.

"But, who are you?Why have you come here, if you were to die on that mountain?Why was it you that was brought back to life, and no one else?Cecil was your superior, he should have been brought back to save the world, and bring about the day.But no, you were.... We want to know why Kain."Rydia said in a sympathetic tone.

"So that you could pay for your sins against us?Or maybe it was because you deserve a second chance at life?Are you destined to this?Why Kain, why you?"Edge said in an almost offensive manner.

"I don't know... no one told me!"Kain shouted dropping to his knees again.

"These things are not things that are told Kain, they are things that are known, why don't you know?"Rosa asked him.

Kain looked inside of himself and not thinking about what he was saying said."Because I am True Dragoon, the last Dragoon, but because I was brought back so that my noble order could live again.And I will bring back all of your order's as well, I will!"

The four of them stepped away from him and gathered to one spot about 10 feet away from a kneeling Kain who could do nothing more then stare at the sky.Then Cecil looked back as the others began to walk away and he said."Kain, we who walk the path of the sacred light never know what the future will hold, some will live, some will die.But the sacred light will always be there to guide us.Open yourself up to it and it will carry you along its course.And above all look at and trust those that you know that you should trust, because if you do not, you will perish along side of them."Then Cecil turned to follow his comrades, when he caught up to them he heard Cecil shout back to him."Bless him light!"And then the four disappeared into the beautiful field and Kain was left alone kneeling and looking with a blank stare at where his friends had been.

Suddenly darkness flooded the field and it was no longer a field, nor was there grass under his feet.The only thing that Kain could see was a blank darkness, though when he looked at himself he could see his body as bright as if it were in the noonday sun.Then two figures emerged on the black field.

Both of them were in front of Kain, but on either sides of him and both were about 25 feet away.One of the figures was dressed completely in black, though Kain could make out every detail that he wore even against the completely dark field.The man was wearing a black trench coat and behind it the hilt of a sword stuck out above his back, and Kain could make out a black sheath covering the blade.

The other man was dressed in a brilliant white.His clothing was identical to the dark man, but everything was white instead of black, and this man too was carrying a sword behind his back.

The two approached each other and both drew their swords in almost identical fashion, suddenly the two began to thrust and parry, hack and slice, block and dodge.It was almost like a dance though; the fighting was so beautiful to watch.For a long time all Kain could do was stand and watch them.

Kain then began to feel an impulse, a feeling deep inside of him, almost like some deep dark part of his mind was talking to him, no commanding him.Kain followed this command and approached the fight.Suddenly the two stopped their fighting and looked at him then both raised their swords across their bodies as if they were expecting a new fight.

They both said at once."Who are you that would dare disturb us?!?!"Their voices filled the black void that the three inhabited.

"I am Kain, True Dragoon."

"And we are the gods that decide the fate of this world, now leave us to our battle."Both said again in the exact same voice, Kain looked at their faces and noticed that they were identical.Everything about this two was exactly the same except the color of their wardrobe.

"This world's fate should be decided by the people of the world, not by omnipotent forces!"Kain shouted at them with a slight hint of rage.

"We are the will of the people."The two said in a silent tone.

***

Suddenly Kain woke up with a cold sweet all across his body.He remembered the dream that had just crossed his mind, in full detail.

Kain looked around he was exactly where he had been when he feel asleep, in the inn that they were all staying in, in Mist.Around him he could see his four friends each in separate beds, except for himself, he had obliged to sleep on the couch of this enormous room.Though he then noticed that Naxos was not in his bed, Kain got up from the couch and tossed the blankets aside.He looked around the room and noticed that the curtain to the small balcony the room had was slightly open.Kain went though the opening and onto the balcony and there he saw Naxos looking over the railing at the nearly dead city below him.

"Something interesting down there?"Kain asked Naxos, who promptly gave a small jump and then looked to see Kain.

"I couldn't sleep, and I always liked to watch people walk around like that, it's almost like watching a colony of ants scurry about."Naxos said with a blank look and an even blanker tone."Why are you up?"

"I'm not sure... I woke up from a very odd dream."

"You're lucky, I almost never dream any more, though that might be because I barely sleep anyone, sure I close my eyes and I slow my breathing.But it's not the same as real sleep."

"I see..." Kain said and then turned around to go back into the room."Try to get some sleep though Naxos, we all need sleep especially with what we're going to be doing tomorrow, we're going to need all the rest we can get."

"I don't need sleep."Naxos said turning around to watch the little traffic there was below him."I never had, I don't know why but I just don't.I'm almost more able without sleep then I am with it."

"Well then, you are luckier then most Naxos."

***

Naxos watched Kain exit the balcony and began to think about how much he respected him.He was able to be cold as winter, yet also he could be friendly at the same time, and by doing thus no one would think anything of his coldness more then he was emotionless."But with myself on the other hand," Naxos said very, very quietly, "everything I say seems to offend, I am almost as cold as Kain, but I must be lacking something that he has."

"That is because you don't pay attention to what you're saying."A shimmering voice inside of Naxos's head said.

Naxos was quite frightened by this, the only voices he had ever heard in his head, before this, were his own."Who are you?!?!"Naxos shouted inside of his head.

"That does not matter, all that matters now is that you realize that I am here to help you.And I'm going to start by teaching you some manners, that's what you want isn't it?You want people to like you."

"I don't need 'manners."'Naxos said to the voice with a pinch of disgust."So please whoever you are leave me to my thoughts."

"You don't really want that do you?"The shimmering voice asked."You want me to stay and help you out by giving you advice on how to live your life, but you're too man enough to admit it... am I close?"

"Leave me, or I shall call a demon to loosen your head from your shoulders!"Naxos whispered under his breath.

"Fool, you can as easily force me to leave you as you can force yourself to breath water, now work with me and we will have a nice time together, don't and well you don't want to know what will happen."

"What are you going to do, talk me to death."After he said that, Naxos could have sworn he heard a small laugh.Then without warning or notice, he was down upon the floor of the balcony shivering with pain and nearly crying inside of a fetal position.

"Want to see what else I can do to you, boy."The shimmering voice said, sounding much more like a taskmaster then an omnipotent force.

"Why did you come to me, just so that you could torture me like this, is that it?!?!"Naxos again whispered under his breath with rage on his tongue.

"Wouldn't you like to know, now go back to bed and get some sleep, we will talk more of this in the morning."

"You are not my master!I have no master!And for another thing we will talk about this now!It's not like I need sleep anyway."

"You needed sleep before."The voice said in an almost sympathetic tone."Before Zeromus infested you, you needed to sleep then, as much as everyone else.You simply don't want those nightmares to come anymore, am I correct?"

"How do you know these things!"Naxos said in a very demanding fashion.

"I will tell you in the morning, now go to sleep, if you don't you will soon end up little more then a quivering mass of flesh and bone."

"All right fine.But, who are you?"

"That and all of your questions will be explained later, if I should divulge things before their time then your mind could possible implode upon itself."

Naxos did not even want to think about the voice anymore, maybe he was asleep, maybe... no he was awake, and the pain that the voice had sent him before proved it.Naxos got up and exited the balcony.

Inside of the room he could see everyone in their on beds, and poor Kain on the couch.Naxos approached Kain as silently as he could, for Kain was a tremendously light sleeper and he did not wish to wake him up.When Naxos got about 5 feet away from him, he noticed that Kain's eyes were open as wide as it seemed they possibly could be, but his pupils had disappeared all together.Very odd, Naxos thought to himself and then he went to his own bed and lay down under the covers and waited for sleep to come.

Naxos was soon standing back in the crystals' shrine in the Tower of Babil, he looked into the box ahead of him and he began to stare at all of the crystals."They're so beautiful."He whispered to himself.

Then Naxos began to feel a presence behind him, so like any unwitting person in a dream, he turned around to see what was behind him.It was Zeromus, standing there panting for air, his body was scarred and there were many cuts and bruises all over his bone covered body, in certain places Naxos could even see that the bone had broken off.

Zeromus then cried out with a blood-curdling screech.Then it approached him and stared into his eyes, with it's own massive blue eyes.Then Naxos could feel it sending its consciousness into his body, he could feel the disgustingness of the creature filling him.Every inch of his body wanted to crawl off and be away from this vile thing, and soon the vile thing had complete control over Naxos.He began to walk Naxos around and Naxos couldn't control a damned thing.All he could do was watch as the terrible demon walked towards the crystals, in his body.

This was the one thing that brought Naxos more pain then anything else, the lack of control.Suddenly though the roof in the crystals' shrine was torn off and a near golden light began to shine through the hole and onto Naxos's body.Naxos could feel it's glory washing over him, and it felt like a blessing.Within seconds the demon was gone, it was no longer inside of him, and for that he felt that the sacred light had personally blessed him.For a long time all Naxos could do was stand inside of the blessed light, and laugh and almost cry; because, what usually happened at this point in his dreams was not occurring, something had stopped it, and Naxos had a vague idea as to what.

***

Phantine was icy cold; she could barely even feel her body.Her consciousness seemed to be flowing out of her cold half dead shell, and all she could do was wait and see what happened next.Soon she could look down and view her body, there on the ground.It was laying on it's side, and inside of her back, she could see the hilt of the knife sticking out, the knife had cut her back in such a way that her spinal cord had been severed in two, that way the murderer made sure that she could not simply walk away from this.Though it didn't matter now, she was dead.

Her body lay down in a dark grassy field, with many stones and rocks around it.Though the more she looked at the field the more it reminded her of a graveyard, with headstones peaking out of the ground all over and statues of angels and saints in the background.And near the edge of her site, she could see a dark man wearing a trench coat walking away from her, she could see blood on that man's gloves, and the worst part was she knew who that man was.

A beam of light then erupted out of the darkened clouds behind her, she turned around to see the beauty of the light, but she was blinded by it.Her eyes seemed be burning out of her head it hurt so much.She began to cry, she hated this place and she wanted to leave, she wanted to be back where she was with Dekan and everyone else.

When Phantine opened her eyes next she was in a very bright room, though there were no doors and no windows.She didn't need to ask where the light was coming from as everywhere in the room torches were filled with burning white flame.The room was made of solid blocks of what looked like ordinary brick, though not the brick of today, the brick that was used in older times to build houses.In front of her was a fairly ordinary wooden podium, beyond that a much greater wooden podium stretched for nearly fifteen feet, which was nearly the same width that the room was.Behind the podium sat five men, or rather persons for their features were completely covered by robes and hoods were positioned over their faces so that they could not be seen at all.Each of these robed figures was standing, and the one in the middle motioned for her to stand at the podium in front of her.When she did as was instructed each of the robed figures sat down on chairs behind their podium and she could tell that something important was about to happen.

"Do you know why you are here?"A booming voice came from the figure in the center.

"Is it because I am the one who caries the sacred light of the dawn?"She asked them.

"No..."The booming voice came again, though suddenly she realized that the voice could have come from any of the robed figures and she would never have known which one.

"Am I here because I broke some rule or regulation?"

"No..."

"Then I do not know why I am here." She consented with a slight bit of annoyance.

"You are here so that we may asess you."

"Very well then, but what are you assessing me for?"

"For your entry to become a legend, we received it several days ago."Phantine was stunned, she was not a legend, nor did she wish to become one.

"I'm sorry I think you've made a mistake, I'm not worthy of becoming a legend, in any way."She argued to the figures.

"This is not your decision to make Phantine, it is the decision of higher authorities.But we are here to make sure that those higher authorities made the correct choice with you."

"But I don't want to..."

"What you want is irrelevant, now we will ask you questions, and you WILL answer them.Do you understand?"

"I do, but..."

"Good," The figure interrupted her again."Now then do you believe that your are the one who caries the light of the sacred dawn, such as Cecil did before you?"

"Yes, I mean I think so, that's what everyone..."

"Good.What is your relationship with True Dragoon Kain?"

"He is a good friend of mine, and Dekan's mentor, and I suppose he's kind of mine too."

"I see.Phantine, what is your relationship with Dekan Regulas?"

"He is, I mean we're a... I don't how to describe it... I'm sorry."

"Let me rephrase the question, is Dekan Regulas your lover."

Phantine paused, and then said."Why do you wish to know that?It is not your need to know!"

"Phantine, is Dekan Regulas your mate, your sexual partner, your lover."The last was the one that whichever shape emphasized.

Phantine could not believe this, but she could tell that she was not going to leave until all of these people, figures, whatever, had the answers they wanted."He is..."She said with as much dignity as she could muster, though it was also said in the quietest tone she could muster.

"Very well then, are you a scholar of the old ways?"

"I am."

"Then you know what a Paladin of the Light is?"Phantine nodded her head."Good; are you a Paladin of the Light?"

"I am much like a Paladin of the Light, but I have not gone up to the shrine at Mt. Ordeals to proclaim myself one like all the Paladins of old."

"You have been to Mt. Ordeals though, with two men, your lover Dekan Regulas and Naxos DeNoir.There you successfully retrieved the crystal of flame from your enemies, you do not consider this a trial at Mt. Ordeals?"

"I do, but I did not have to fight myself in its darkest form so that I could destroy all of the darkness within me, like the Paladins of old did."

"You are a scholar, good.Now tell me, do you consider yourself a Paladin of the Light?"

"Not as yet."

"Do you believe that you can bring about the sacred dawn?"

"I believe that I can."She said with as much confidence as she had, which unfortunately didn't sound like very much.

"Do you believe that the dawn would never come should you be disposed of?"

"I... I don't know, I never thought about that."After a short pause she continued."Yes actually, I think that it would still come with or without me."

"Well then how can you say that you are the one who brings the sacred light of the dawn, if you are not needed to bring about, the sacred light of the dawn."

"Oh well, then I mean no.I must be necessary to bring about the dawn."

"Then you believe that you are the only person that has the overwhelming power of the sacred light on your world?"

"I... I... I don't know."With that, she could make out all kinds of sounds and mumblings from the figures as if they were talking amongst themselves and didn't want her to know what they were saying.But each of the figures was still facing towards her.

Phantine blinked, and then suddenly she was back on the ground looking up at the night sky and all the stars shining bright in it.Just like in their war against darkness the sources of light really showed themselves during the night, but during the day there was only one source that you could ever see.An interesting analogy, and a very true one.Then suddenly off a great distance in front of her a bright sun appeared above a group of tall mountains.

"The Dawn is so beautiful."She said quietly and serenely.

"Those who write reviews shall be karmically rewarded."

-Kain DeLuman


	2. New Journeys Begin

New Journeys Begin  
  
  
  
Kain watched the masses of people from the balcony with Naxos. They dawn had just broke and with it a swarm of people, all of which still oblivious of their new freedom, moved to where they always moved every morning, of everyday. Naxos looked at Kain and said "So let me get this straight, first we need to destroy and or disperse the military, second we inform the populace of what has happened and who we are, and the third is that we somehow make sure that the next people that rule this world are enlightened and one with the light of the day, is that what your saying?"  
  
"It is." Kain said after a short pause.  
  
"So when do we get started." Dawne said as she came through the balcony's door.  
  
"Now." And the two of them could feel the ice on Kain's breath with that one word.  
  
Kain, Dawne, and Naxos went into the room that they had all stayed in and there they looked at the young couple still in bed. "The letter is there?" Kain whispered.  
  
"Yeah, and it's exactly what you said it should be, as if a stone had written it." Dawne said with an inch of disrespect at the word, stone.  
  
"Good, are you two ready, and remember you don't have to come." Kain said with something that almost sounded like sympathy on his voice.  
  
"Kain you are the man I respect more then anyone else, I couldn't not come." Naxos said with nothing but respect.  
  
"You two sound so serious, I think I need to come along so that you don't scare every little girl you two come across." Dawne said amusedly.  
  
Kain looked at Dawne and gave her a smirk as he said, "Who me? You mean the man dressed as a dragon holding a spear as white as the noon sun, and with a look of death on his face?" Dawne's only response was a suspicious little smile that appeared on her face.  
  
Kain and Naxos approached Dawne as she began to look down and concentrate on the floor beneath her. As she stared and concentrated she began to speak runic words as ageless as time itself. "Ent corptia enss bevengreass dia engrossia dislas dia noven swargerterrain." And at the last word left her tongue she opened her eyes and watched the swirling colors as they passed around her and her two companions. "This is the reason that I became what I am, the shear beauty of it." Kain looked at Dawne now with a true smile on his lips, but Naxos looked on with chagrin and contempt.  
  
Suddenly, the light began to flicker and Dawne could feel all three of them being brought into the realm of infinite light and beauty that she always used when she transversed the farthest reaches of space. Once again she felt the pull of the two other souls that she was brining along behind her, though she wanted to feel two more, but she knew that Kain had made the right decision and that it was best for them to have stayed there. She now began to hope that they would do exactly what they should do, that they would lay low and let no one know who they were, Phantine was the sacred light of the dawn and that must be preserved at all costs.  
  
Within a matter of minutes the three of them had arrived at the Tower of Babil and were standing before the glass case where the eight crystals were held. Dawne looked at Kain and asked, "So now, how do we do this anyway?"  
  
"We, aren't going to do a thing." Kain said with a voice even colder then usual. "I'm the only person that's going."  
  
"What!" Naxos shouted out. "Kain you said that you would bring us along, otherwise we wouldn't have come, why in the world did you bring us along then."  
  
"I brought you along so that you could do something for me Naxos, and you two Dawne. But I wanted to make sure that Dekan and Phantine wouldn't have a chance at hearing it." After a long pause Kain continued. "I need you both to take care of the underground, to go back to the land of the summoned and organize, and for you two to go to the land of the dwarves and make sure that the revolution that we had planned for is still going on and are still happening or is going to happen. The complete halt to all communication and transport across the world is hurting us in the fact that we now have no information, but because we have you Dawne, are difficulties are less, and for that I thank you." Dawne felt herself almost begin to blush, but then as soon as she realized it she suppressed it with every once of willpower she had, she would not embarrass herself. "I need you two to do this, while Dekan and Phantine are taking care of what they need to take care of, when I get back I expect everything to be at least near where I think it should be.. Now, will you please leave me; I'm going to do this alone."  
  
Dawne was confused by the speech, but also she felt as though she understood what Kain was trying to say, well all but one thing at least. "Kain you didn't say why you didn't want Dekan and Phantine to hear."  
  
"Because I don't want them to know where we are, they must do everything as much on their own from now on as possible. They have both reached a point now where the only experience that they can gain will be from teaching themselves, and as such that is what they must do." Kain almost sounded like a robot in Dawnes' ears. "Now, will you please go?"  
  
Dawne gave a long glance into Kain's face, and tried to puzzle many things out at once, but then realizing that she couldn't she looked over at Naxos and said. "Are you ready, if so we'll be on our way."  
  
"Kain, I want to follow you." Naxos said. "I want you to teach me everything; why can't I follow you?"  
  
"First, because this is something I need to do by myself. Second, Dawne may need your help in the underworld. And third, following me will not help you with your problems and with your demons. You must hunt them down yourself Naxos, don't rely on anyone to do that for you, not even me." Dawne looked at Kain with a new feeling of inner wisdom in her mind now, thinking that in some other life he could have been some expert philosopher.  
  
With that Naxos looked at Kain and looking as though he was trying to find the inner peace that Kain had found said. "You're right Kain, but.." Naxos paused for a moment to think about his thoughts and to argue, but then only continued with. "I will go Kain. Know that while you are gone we shall forge the dawn beneath the Earth and its heat will sizzle the very grounds that those who stand in the night, walk on."  
  
"I thank you Naxos." Kain said.  
  
And with that Phantine chanted her arcane words that would take her to the other world and to the land of the summoned monsters.  
  
* * *  
  
Kain looked at the eight crystals glimmering almost as one before him and basked himself in their light. Then he looked up to the roof of the room and saw the picture of the ruby moon and eight crystals surrounding it. Then Kain looked down and took the crystal of fire from out of the glass case and brought it to it's own alter in the room. As he placed it on the altar it began to glow less and less with the group, but brighter and brighter by itself.  
  
Kain then did this with all of the other crystals, bringing each to their own altars and then watching as they glowed apart from the rest, but glowed stronger and stronger.  
  
When the last crystal was placed onto its altar suddenly all of the crystals began to glow almost a white-hot color; the color that the inside of the sun must look like, Kain thought.  
  
Kain went back to the center of the room and watched the crystals glow with the most beautiful radiant light that he had ever seen. Soon the crystals began to glow less and less and soon there was barely even a glow at all coming from any of them, their light had disappeared. All that now remained of their light was the faint shimmer that they always had, so Kain went over to the crystals and took them back to the glass container in the center of the room, as each of the crystals came back to where he had gotten them from the all began to shimmer in unison. The pattern and order of it appeared beautiful, oh so beautiful, to Kain.  
  
Kain now exited to the crystal's room and went through the hallways and followed the corners and passageways up and up until finally he reached the very top of the tower. As he reached the top he looked around at the world. "It looks so pristine and so beautiful from up here, and so familiar. I look around and I expect to see Rosa and Cecil walking off, together in the distance. I want to see Edge trying to flirt with Rydia but failing horribly at it. But I know that the only time I'll ever see these things again is in my dreams. I can't dwell on the past I must live in the present and strive for the future." And with that Kain closed his eyes and jumped up into the air and let the wind flow under him and bring him higher and higher until he was one with the clouds and the birds.  
  
As he flew down towards the continent below him he saw the tower begin to fly up towards him and then off in the distance he could make out the city of Eblan. As his dive down towards the earth continued he now noticed a new feature dotting the terrain, a huge black vessel that seemed to be shaped almost like a whale.  
  
Kain dove down unto the ground and let the wind soften his drop; he stood up and gazed at the Big Whale. "Another aspect from the past that has come to haunt me, that's all it is." Kain thought and said to himself; and after gazing upon it for a few minutes Kain entered the Big Whale.  
  
Inside was exactly as he had remembered it. The crystal of flight shown proudly in the center of the vessel, brimming and glowing, waiting to be used. In the back a group of beds were arranged for passengers that undoubtedly would need to sleep on the long voyage to the ruby moon. But now Kain especially needed the beds, as the ruby moon was now much further away from the earth then it had previously been, but Kain was confident that the crystal of flight would take him there. So Kain went straight towards the crystal and glanced into it and through it. Then in the way he and his party had always activated it before, he touched the surface of the crystal in a part that seemed smoother then the rest. And suddenly (but not surprisingly) the hulking behemoth stirred and shuddered and then began to fly up towards the vastness of space.  
  
* * *  
  
Phantine awoke, wrapped around the arms of her Dekan. She loved that feeling of having his now much larger arms wrapped around her. It made her feel secure, as though he was an anchor that was pulling her back down to Earth, as the dreams that she had been having the past few nights felt as though they had brought her up to some heavenly evil place.  
  
She turned around to look into his eyes, but as she turned she noticed something odd; Kain wasn't on the couch, and his armor wasn't lying on the ground like it had been last night. She could clearly remember him laying his armor and spear down the night before. He always was so meticulous with it, and now it was all gone, every piece, even that mask that he wore that made her want to cry whenever she looked at it for some reason. Then suddenly Phantine was able to put two and two together (give her a break she just woke up). Phantine nearly jumped out of bed, which of course managed to get Dekan to follow her very quickly.  
  
"Ahhhh! What the hell!" Dekan nearly shouted out after being dragged upwards by Phantine.  
  
"He left, he left without even telling us!" Phantine said sounding very exasperated. "He was supposed to stay with me so that he could protect me and.."  
  
"In case you've forgotten my dear," Dekan tried to say mockingly, though it came out odd, as he was still very groggy and very disoriented. "Kain said that I should protect you, besides he probably just went out to go practice more. Goodness knows he already does enough of that already, but he always thinks he needs more I guess."  
  
Phantine laughed at herself now, she felt rather silly for not even thinking about something like that. She even laughed out loud and then Dekan laughed with her as they both feel back down onto the bed. They laughed at the nothingness of it all for a long time, until Dekan started to behind Phantine and he got an interesting look on his face. "Hmmm, Dawne and Naxos have left as well. I wonder why everybody left us here alone, and didn't even wake us up to tell us they were leaving."  
  
It was at that moment that Dawne noticed an envelope on the room's desk, she couldn't read it from where she was, but she was quite sure that it had a name written on the top of it. "Hmmm, left us a rather formal note over there, it looks like." Phantine said to Dekan, who then proceeded to look over towards the desk as well.  
  
After looking at the desk, Dekan looked over at a clock that was on the wall of their room. "Hmmm, it's only 9:30. I would have thought that they would all have still been sleeping. I wonder what's going on?" He said, sounding much more intelligible this time.  
  
Phantine started to stand up so that she could go over to the desk and get the letter, but then she remembered that the bed was warm and cozy, but outside the bed was not. After struggling with this for a minute she summoned the willpower to be able to get up and walk over to the desk. Curiosity above comfort she thought to herself. Phantine walked over and picked up the letter that was on the desk, on the front it said, "To Dekan and Phantine."  
  
Suddenly Phantine heard Dekan say to her. "Bring it over here, I want to read it too ya know." He said with a grin on his face.  
  
So Phantine brought the letter over to their bed and on her way there she opened the seal, and pulled a page of paper out from the envelope. She sat down on the bed and Dekan came over towards her, but as he did the letter began to float out of her hands and then down towards the floor, waving back and forth as Phantine simply sat and stared.. She had always been able to read fast from her years of being a scholar for the guardian, but now she wished that she could have read that a little slower, maybe she didn't read something right, maybe, maybe, just maybe.  
  
  
  
Note to reader(s). I just finished playing FF4. And I just realized how different some things are from FF2. So for all of you who played FF4 and kind of looked at my story with a grain of salt cause I changed things around, please realize that the only reason I did this was because FF2 left Kain's story as open as a Bruce Willis movie. ^_^  
  
  
  
"Those who write reviews shall be karmikly rewarded."  
  
-Kain DeLuman 


	3. Master of Death

1 Master of Death  
  
  
  
The blur and the flash that veiled Dawne's eyes began to dissipate and now she could see that she had now returned to the cave of the summoned monsters. Unfortunately a warding did not allow her to move directly into the cave itself. Nor was she able to go directly to the land of the summoned monsters, for that lied in another dimension of sorts. Though Naxos told her not to mind the trip through the cavern, as they would then get a chance to practice their abilities further and from that grow in power and blah blah blah blah blah. It seemed to her now a day that almost everything that came out of Naxos's mouth was complete and utter crap. Because all that he could talk about was becoming more powerful, gaining honor, and yet through all of that he made everything out to be so cynical and dreary that it made her want to smack him. He had never been the life of the party granted, but now he was just acting like the world was ending and that he would have to pay for whatever sins he had by himself, or something like that.  
  
"The magma out here is far too bright, we should go inside the cavern now so that it doesn't blind us, and we die before we can do anything." Naxos said in the dour tone that he was famous for in her mind.  
  
"Oh please, I think the magma here is almost beautiful. And if you're worried about it blinding you, then you really should have your eyes checked. It's not that bright at all." Dawne said knowing that she sounded quite frustrated with him.  
  
"Let's just go anyway. It's pointless to just stay out here and bicker, even though it seems that's all you ever want to do with me."  
  
Flames and magma surged deep within Dawne when she heard that. She was just about to lay her mind down upon him, and the back of her hand as well, but then she realized how utterly pointless that would be and she began to walk towards the caves entrance. Not caring weather Naxos joined her or not. Though she soon heard his footsteps jogging up to get to her.  
  
The two entered the cavern, and for the briefest of moments Dawne had to let her eyes get used to the lack of light. But when she could see again, she wished that she couldn't. Before her the entirety of the ground was littered with thousands of corpses. She ran up to the closest one to her and looked at it, she soon recognized that this was one of the Guardians soldiers. She looked around hastily, and about forty feet away she saw the corpse of what appeared to be one the gray paladins that Kain and the others had told her about. She approached the gray paladin to take a closer look, as she first approached him she noticed that everything about him reeked of a foul smell; a smell even worse then that of a thousand decaying corpses scattered around the ground. Everything he wore and all of his skin seemed to be white, but then coated in an oily black, to form a grayish color that sickened her just to look at it.  
  
"By the light!" Naxos said right behind her, frightening her wits from out of her. "This is horrible, and just think about what in the world that could have caused what looks to be a legion of the guardians finest soldiers to fall here."  
  
"That's a good question Naxos, but I don't think I would not want it answered if that meant that I would have to meet it."  
  
"No, we will meet who or what ever did this and we will make them pay for their sins."  
  
"Naxos…" The one thought that circled in her mind now was that he was a fool. "Don't you realize that whoever did this HELPED US? These are the men that would have tried to kill us. They deserve no pity, and whoever did this to them, deserves our thanks."  
  
"Maybe so, but we should still keep our guards up though." And at that Naxos began walking on and over the corpses trying to get to the path that lead down into the depths of the cavern.  
  
"No time to morn the dead I suppose." Dawne said shrugging, she wanted to vomit, she wanted to run, but she couldn't she had to press forward she wouldn't let the dead get to her, she wouldn't let it happen, she would not.  
  
She began to walk slowly after Naxos trying for the life of her not to step on any of the corpses that lay before her, and as she was looking down to make sure that she did not step on any of them was when she looked down and noticed that she could not see any wounds, cuts, burns, or any other causes of these men to be dead. "Naxos stop for a sec would ya?"  
  
Naxos slowly turned around looking as though he expected her to have a chipped nail. "Yes?"  
  
Yet again she wanted to smack him. "Naxos… look at the corpses, can you see any reason for them to be dead?"  
  
Naxos gave her a surprised look; but then a very frightened and worried look replaced it after a few seconds. He began to look down at the corpses and then found one in particular that he seemed to spark his interest and he began to exam the corpse with great detail. He then looked at Dawne and said, "I can find no reason either." He then pressed two of his fingers upon the corpse's throat, where the jugular was. He then looked at Dawne and said. "There is no pulse, this doesn't make…" and his words trailed off as he began to stare down at the corpse's face, and the expression on it to be more specific. He then looked at a few more corpses, all with the exact same expression on their faces, absolute and utter terror. It was then that Dawne began to hear Naxos begin to chant in the arcane tongue that she could speak, but which she never understood exactly what it was she was saying. "Avom tergium etu narcium, avom tergium etu herlagen, avom tergium etu zergansses, voiten avom lazz purier." Suddenly his eyes began to glow first blue, then red, then they moved through all the colors of the rainbow and once they had glowed every color, they began to repeat. Dawne was thoroughly confused, she had never heard of any spell like that before; she had no idea what it was that he was doing. With these newly radiant eyes he looked throughout the cavern, almost like he was trying to see every corpse at once and peer into all of them.  
  
"Naxos, what…"  
  
"I am seeing with eyes unhazed by reality." He paused and then chanted one word. "Hestuen." Suddenly his eyes returned to the normal deep dark blue they had always been. "Dawne, I looked and I noticed that these men have no soul within them."  
  
"Isn't that normal for the dead?" Dawne asked, even more frightened then she was a few minutes ago.  
  
"To a degree, but the thing is, there are pieces left here. It's almost as though their souls had been torn out of their bodies." He paused looking back at the corpse and then at her. "Dawne, you know the ancient spell that the elders' talked about called doom?"  
  
"Yes I remember it, it summoned a reaper to come and collect early upon the body's soul."  
  
"That's kinda what it looks like though, like they knew that they shouldn't be dieing right then and their, they knew that that shouldn't be happening, and as such they didn't give their souls willingly, but fought whatever it was; this caused them to actually retain a few pieces of their souls. Not nearly enough to do anything, but enough to leave a clue at least."  
  
"Naxos, I think we should just keep going, whatever this is. We either fight it or we run, and something tells me you ain't going to run." She said, knowing that fear coated heavily on her breath.  
  
Naxos's only response was to give her a smile, what looked to be an almost true and sincere smile, one that she had never seen from him before. And then he turned around and began walking down the trail again, towards the bottom of the cavern.  
  
The further they traveled downward the fewer the corpses that laid on the ground, until finally their were none on the ground at all, and the last one that they had seen had been that of a large gray paladin, one that looked to be of importance.  
  
Suddenly Dawne felt a cold chill across her body, as she felt it only one thing crossed her mind, fear. Dawne screamed letting out every breath in her lungs until she could scream anymore, for there was no air left in her lungs to scream with. At that point Naxos looked at her in an almost mocking way and said. "Are you quite done yet?"  
  
"Didn't you feel that?!?!" Dawne said after she had refilled her lungs. Naxos looked at her a more confused fashion now as he shook his head. "I felt a cold breeze, come over me, I swear I thought whoever had killed these men had just come upon me or something."  
  
"Caverns are drafty places Dawne, I'd remember that if I were you." Naxos said after he had turned around and continued walking.  
  
Dawne followed him again, and again she wished she wasn't, she wished he would just lighten up. That was when it finally hit her, Naxos was trying to act like Kain, only he wasn't doing a very good job of it sense Kain had always at least been a gentleman towards her, and everyone else for that matter. Dawne gave a small smirk as she watched Naxos ahead of her confident that she knew what was going on inside of his head, and also ready to use a new weapon should he choose to fight her again.  
  
After a good hour's walk they finally reached the end of the cavern where the portal connecting their world with the world of the summoned was. As they reached it, Naxos stopped a few feet away from the portal looked back at Dawne and said. "Do you want to go in now, or should we look around for what caused what we saw back there."  
  
"Let's go in, maybe whatever it was went inside of there already, in which case…" A terrible fright came over her, because it was then that she began to think about how if the death creature had gone within the portal, it could very well and easily have destroyed the entire realm, along with the summoned inhabitants… and if her summoneds were destroyed then she would become very powerless, very soon. And with that thought on her mind she ran into the portal with speed beyond thought. As she got to the portal she jumped upon the altar and from there she felt her body dematerialize, it felt like her body was being torn apart form the inside out, and then being put back together again. And then she was back in the world of the summoned, and as soon as she arrived she felt at ease, and at peace, feelings she had not had sense she had first left the portal, and that felt like a long time ago.  
  
Then she stepped off the altar and within a moment Naxos had appeared behind her. She didn't bother looking at him though; instead she looked around at the world that she had left behind… It looked exactly the same, exactly. There were still people and monsters living happily side-by-side, they were fine, if not perfect, or untouched. It seemed bizarre to her, very bizarre.  
  
"Everything seems fine to me." She heard Naxos say from behind her. "We should go talk to Leviathan quickly. I hope that he has some idea of what the hell happened in the cavern." And then Naxos walked off towards the center of town, where the library, and the lord of this town resided.  
  
As they walked through the town, many of the humans gave them odd looks, and only one or two of the people that she saw looked even slightly familiar. Though none of them seemed to recognize her at all. No one stopped her on the street, not a soul. Even the monsters that she had known before, and talked with before that she saw on the street looked at her, but acted as though they didn't even know her. At one point, she saw the great titan walking down upon the street and wondered up to him and said hello, he looked down at her, but then continued walking down along the streets. To her this was getting eerier and eerier, and now she was down right frightened.  
  
As the two finally reached the library they went down into the second cellar where they both knew that Leviathan and his wife Asura would be. And when they reached the second basement of the library they were there; with another monster talking with them. A monster that Dawne had never once seen before, and that frightened her more, because she knew every single one of the summoned ones in this town. The monster was gowned completely in black, it's face looked old and wrinkly, and he seemed very much like a normal human. Except everything about him screamed sickly, and of death and dying; this was no man, this was a summoned one and a monster, that alone she knew.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye (both of which were glaring at the black monster) she saw Naxos take to his knee and say, "Lord Leviathan, I have returned here with Dawne. It is good to see you again my lord."  
  
At that natural pause in Naxos's speech Leviathan looked out at him and said. "Child, I do not know you, but a welcome visitor that proclaims me lord is always welcomed in my realm."  
  
"No these are not friends my lord." A sickly voice stated. "They are the ones that can tear you from this realm and make you do their bidding, they call themselves summoners and they are an evil sort."  
  
"Is this true!" Leviathan boomed at the two standing before him.  
  
"We are summoners my lord, but we are not an evil sort. We only summon those of you that have agreed to be summoned."  
  
"No monster here would ever agree to something as foolish as that, human. We are a noble breed and we are not the servants of humans, they are our servants if anything."  
  
"And that is why we have come here my lord, to beg and to plead and to let us state our case before you."  
  
Dawne was confused beyond reason, she now had no idea what either of these two were saying, it was like neither of them had ever met before, even though they had countless times. So she whispered to Naxos. "What the hell is going on here?"  
  
Naxos whispered back "Follow my lead, and don't say anything. For the light's sake, just trust that I know what I'm doing."  
  
"What was that, if I may ask?" Leviathan said inquisitively.  
  
"My colleague here just made a very interesting point to me my lord. I find it very rude of myself to talk to you here like this, may we speak to your adviser there in private so that we do not need to disturb you from your duties."  
  
"I find nothing wrong with that. And I thank you for being so respectful, when Milon here told me of your kind he made you all seem so repugnant, dishonorable and evil. I never thought that your kind would have such good manners, or respect."  
  
"I thank you my lord. Master Milon was it, if you would be so kind as to follow me."  
  
A faint and ominous growl was heard followed by a "If my master finds it a good idea, then I will follow it."  
  
And with that the three exited the basement throne room and came to the second basement of the library. As they did Naxos went over to the door to the next level and closed and then locked it, then he closed the small door that led down to the basement. "So master Milon, let me come out and be quite honest. I know what's going on here; you know what's going on here. And to be quite honest I want you to stop this little mind controlling thingy that you've got going on here."  
  
"Quite insightful." The ominous voice that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once spoke. "But you will not leave here alive fool."  
  
"Will you kill us like you killed that army that was within the cavern?"  
  
"Insightful indeed." And then Milon took from his robe a rose, with petals completely black and said. "Tell me, are you ready to die."  
  
"Always."  
  
It was right then that Dawne finally figured out that a fight was about to break out, and all the only weapons at her disposal against a beast that could steal her very soul was a great number of arcane words.  
  
"Infrigenod diszeon arctaneous hex!" Dawne heard Naxos shout as she too began to chant. "Nearzouleon infrigidarous moruron." Though her chant was much more silent.  
  
Suddenly out of the palms of Naxos's hands came bursts of fire that shot straight towards Milon and as they hit him they erupted in huge explosions that threw him across the side of the room. And then Dawne flung out her hands forward and aimed there where the Milon beast had landed, she felt her hands growing colder and colder, and then she chanted the last arcane word. "Trent." The freezing cold then left her hands immediately and she saw the black form that had been thrust into a corner being covered with ice. Then the ice broke off and melted wherever it landed.  
  
Milon stood, just barely. Then it fell down face forward, he looked to be quite dead.  
  
"Get another spell on your lips Dawne, and make sure it's a fire spell this time."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Didn't I tell you before to just trust me?" It was at that point that Dawne decided that shutting up might just be a good idea, even though it was an idea that she hated.  
  
After looking at what they both thought was Milon's corpse for about a minute. They both watched as the corpse began to quiver and shake. And then Milon stood back up, and as he did he shed his black robes on the ground. Then the weak frail body under the robes began to grow and mutate until it suddenly appeared as a huge monster, large enough to rival the size of the great titan himself. It then laughed and said "Fools I am more powerful in death then you could ever imagine!"  
  
Dawne and Naxos had both already begun their chanting, when the creature was growing and mutating and now, they both let their spells rip into him. Naxos poured the exact same explosive fireballs that he had laid into the creature the time before. Ten large fireballs were hurled upon the creature fountaining into ten huge explosions.  
  
Dawne decided on doing something a bit different, the most powerful spell that had ever been taught to her, it was kinda a fire spell, but she had never used it. Nor had she seen anyone else ever use it, but she needed to use it. She finished her last word and then pointed up to the ceiling above Milon and then pointed down to his head. Suddenly a great swarm or small almost tiny little sparks of fire appeared out of nowhere, millions of them appeared, and then threw themselves into Milon's body. After every one of them had disappeared into deep within Milon they seemed to erupt inside of his body and then They scattered back out of his body to where they had came from.  
  
Milon could not stand up to such a bombardment and feel down. Naxos and Dawne watched as the fallen body turned to dust before their eyes. And then weakness enveloped Dawne's body and she felt herself falling down. But before she actually hit the ground something stopped her, but that didn't matter because she was already fast unconscious.  
  
* * *  
  
Dawne finally awoke in a small room, in a small bed. On a set beside her bed Naxos was sitting down reading a book. "Naxos." She managed to whisper even though her body begged her to do nothing but lay down.  
  
"Good you've awoken."  
  
"How did you know… everything?"  
  
"It's the kind of things that monsters, and other evil things like to do a lot. I've read it about a thousand times in the books that I like to read and the stories that I've been told. You should really pay more attention to Kain's stories too you know. That thing that we fought just then was something that Kain told me he had fought a long time ago as well. Though he actually told me that it was a story of a story because…" And it was at that point that Dawne's body decided to go back to sleep, though she was glad it did, so that she wouldn't have to listen to Naxos lecture her.  
  
* * *  
  
Kain hated to just sit around and waiting while the Big Whale flew him to the Ruby Moon (or maybe he should call it the ruby planet now?). It was incredibly boring without anyone else there, and he could only do so much training in one day by himself. He wished that he had agreed to let Naxos come along with him now; at least the boy listened to his stories. Even if he was a bit misguided, he was at least willing to learn, in his own special way of course.  
  
"Those who write reviews shall be karmikly rewarded."  
  
-Kain DeLuman 


	4. The forgotten

The Forgotten  
  
Dawne looked up from her bed, the only thing that she could make out from that was that the roof of the building was completely wood. Remember the city, it seemed to her that all of the houses in the village seemed to be like that, very rustic on the outside, and inside too. But that rustic charm hid the true nature of the town, for inside dwelt some of the most powerful creatures that had never roamed the Earth... and some that hadn't.  
  
She lifted her torso out of bed so she could take a good look around and hopefully find out where she was. The room that she was in was sparse at best; her bed was in the left back corner next to it was a chair with a pale blue lamp on it, the lamp's dim glow barely managed to penetrate the two opposite corners of the room. There was a small circular table in the middle of the room, with five chairs surrounding it. On the direct opposite other side from her she could see a polished silver mirror, large enough to allow anyone a good look at their entire outfit. Dawne looked at herself in the mirror, realizing that it had been the first time in a long time that she had actually looked at herself. She saw a very ragged and pale girl, with ratted dirty blonde hair, ugly brown eyes and other features that were unfortunately a bit smaller then she really desired. Now she remembered why it was that she didn't look into mirrors too often.  
  
It was while she was looking at herself in the mirror that she heard the door open, a near flood of light came in with it and blinded her slightly so that she could not see who had entered. "Dawne." A strange voice from the brightness began. "It is good to see you awake, I would have hated to have woken you up myself. Anyway, I have been talking with Naxos and he seems to think that we should all take ourselves out of this realm as soon as possible. I must say that I cannot agree completely with his logic on the matter but some of it does seem interestingly enough, especially the idea that our summoning abilities were sterilized by living in this realm, a very interesting idea indeed. Don't you think?" Suddenly the man in the doorway came into focus it was Racule, the summoner that had not decided to join Kain in his quest that long time ago. Now though he looked quite aged and not very healthy looking either, very stressed out it seemed, for there were great black bags  
under his eyes.  
  
"Yeah I agree with the idea totally, sense I was kind of the one who came up with it." Dawne said trying to herself up with her sheets.  
  
"Oh, I see. Very interesting, well Naxos never did say where it was that his idea came from. I just assumed that... Anyway, I am glad that you think this way as well, we will be meeting with everyone from the smallest child to the greatest summoned in our meeting tonight, and there we will decided weather or not to continue and move forward with the idea, though after just learning about how we had been manipulated and how then you and Naxos did save us, we all do owe you a great debt I suppose."  
  
"I suppose, where is Naxos anyway?"  
  
"I'm not sure to tell you the truth the last time I talked to him was a couple of hours ago and he said that he was running off to the library."  
  
"To meet with Leviathan?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I do." Said that dark voice that she knew almost too well, from right behind Racule; who had forgotten to close the door behind him. "Good to see you up again Dawne, I've been quite busy getting everyone to accept the idea of moving away from this realm."  
  
"And how has that been going?" Racule asked Naxos as he entered into the room and sat down on a chair around the table.  
  
"These people are as stubborn as rocks, and half as intelligent." Naxos said with the cynicism he loved on his breath.  
  
"Those are your people too Naxos." Racule added, trying to sound quite the diplomat, but not really succeeding by Dawne's standards, he still somehow sounded greedy when he talked, just like he always did when he was younger.  
  
"By blood yes, but now the blood that binds me to those people feels like water, they don't even remember me! The ones that I remember that I played with as a child can't even remember who I am. Let alone do they understand why I'm trying to get them to move away from their homes; it's so light-damned frustrating!" Naxos said with an inner rage burning in him, Dawne thought if he wasn't careful that inner burning would burn him from the inside out one day. But for some reason she was starting to loose concentration.  
  
"Well what do you expect Naxos!" Racule began. "How would you feel if someone just came to your home, killed a horrible death monster and you praised him for that, and then suddenly he tells you that you should know him and that you and everyone you know need to come away from our safe lives here and live in a place that not even our greatest elders remember?" Dawne listened to him, but know she was having a lot of trouble hearing.  
  
"I have no home Racule. This place was never my home, none of its people were ever my friends, and a hideous death beast would be welcome company some times. You don't know the suffering I feel, you don't know the lengths to which I'd go..."  
  
"Oh, go and get over it Naxo..." Dawne barely managed to get out from her weak body, and then she collapsed on her bed.  
  
* * *  
  
Dawne shivered and shook, she could feel her body chilling at every point, from the soles of her feat to the hair on her head. She couldn't see, but she didn't need to, she knew that she was stuck in some sort of a blizzard as cold as the winter's heart, she'd never been in a blizzard before, but she'd heard about them, so she assumed she knew how they felt.  
  
As she felt her body cringe, shiver, and jolt, she suddenly realized that the cold was not coming from the outside at all, it felt like her soul was cold and that that was what was making her body cold. At that moment she tried desperately to open her eyes and to generally gain control over her body so that she could fight whatever it was that was being done to her. As she tried to control each muscle and fiber of herself individually was when she realized that she was quite naked, and it almost felt as though she was lying on the ground. Which was insane because she was just inside of that little house, how could she have been sent outside, have her soul frozen, and been stark naked and not have known about it at all. "First off," She thought as she tried to regain herself and this was the first that entered her mind with any semblance. "If all of that had happened to me I would have known about it somehow. Because I'd have to be completely unconscious for anyone to even  
get close to... I was unconscious, I dropped right after I said that to Naxos." Suddenly a newfound fear had been forged inside of her. What if Naxos had gone off the edge about the comment that she had made, she thought that he might be close, but she just couldn't imagine "What if he had?" She couldn't even bear to think it, it was a worse thought then anything... dragging her out of bed and taking her to the surface and then... she couldn't handle it and she screamed something to make blood curdle.  
  
"Child." She heard a soft voice trying to comfort... a voice so familiar yet in the infinite pain of even thinking about what could have happened she did not recognize it at all. "Poor child, my touch is hurting her, it does this to some and I never know why it does, we shall ask her when she comes back to us I think." Dawne could not hear a word that was said after child.  
  
Blissfully, the cold exited her soul and she found herself simply laying there; finally being able to stop her near seizure like activities. Slowly she began to open her eyes and as she did she found a great woman standing above her... it was Asura, in her natural form or some would even say, battle form. "Queen Asura, what was that awfulness, and why am I here, and naked." She said as she looked around the room and saw that she was underneath the library in the Asura's own private room.  
  
"You needed healing, your friend was afraid sleep would not suffice, so I decided to help you when he asked me. He can be very charismatic in a way, and also very... odd in other ways." Asura said with a calm voice that when she talked it was like hearing your mother's voice while still inside the womb. "And you are naked because all of these boys behind you wanted to see your beautiful figure." Suddenly every inch of Dawne's body turned a bright red as she turned her head around and got herself ready to scream once again, but behind her their was nothing but walls, furniture, a wooden desk, and a couple of chairs, one of which a small fairy sat in.  
  
Dawne looked back at Asura reading to release the full fury of hell upon her. But as she was about to speak from behind her came a small voice saying. "Well we are technically genderless by your standards, but I do find her appealing for some reason." And as she heard this, her head moved yet again, and the brightness returned to her. Now she didn't know what to think or feel for that matter.  
  
Asura simply laughed and said. "Child, my touch chilled your very soul for some bizarre reason, so I removed your clothes so that I could study exactly what was happening to you." The near giant like six armed women replied.  
  
"Should I thank you then?" Dawne asked, quite unsure whether this mother queen of the monsters had healed her or hurt and embarrassed her.  
  
"If you wish, you are better now, though the chilling that was caused by that perplexed me to be honest." Asura said, and suddenly without even a flash or a transformation, she was back to being a regular fairly old woman who just happened to look like a queen.  
  
"Well then I do thank you, but why did you invite this Slyphid in with you?" Dawne asked sounding only slightly indignant.  
  
"She is here to make sure that I do not make any mistakes or in any way tap myself out. You know, it is always a good idea to have another person with you when casting spells or doing anything... magical you know?" Asura said, quite matter-of-factly.  
  
"Yes, I suppose. But is this the closest you could come to a female mage to help you?"  
  
"Should I be offended?" The Slyphid asked, but was ignored.  
  
"This was the closest yes, there are so few of our kind that practice the white arts anymore." Asura said, sounding quite tired and almost apathetic towards everything.  
  
"Oh!" Dawne was quite surprised; back in her time there were a great deal of white mages who could have helped Asura to do this. How could they all have disappeared? "Asura, what do you mean that there are few that practice the white arts?"  
  
"There are almost no summoned ones such as myself that practice the white arts." Asura said calmly, rationally, and logically.  
  
"Why did you not ask one of the white mages to help you, or are their none left?" Dawne asked suspiciously.  
  
"White mages? To what are you referring to Dawne?" Asura spoke as though she had never heard the term before in her life.  
  
"The humans in this village that use white magic? You don't know about them?" Asura shook her head. "What the hell is going on here?!" Dawne shouted at the walls in the room around her. All that she could think about now were all of her friends that she had known that had been taught the white ways. She had never had any skill for white magic so she concentrated on her summoning and black magic, but those were her friends. But now that she thought about it, she didn't remember seeing any of them when she was outside.  
  
Now though she didn't even want to look at any more of the summoned ones, she didn't want to look at anyone or anything, this was all to weird... too wrong, this was all just far too wrong.  
  
Dawne stood up and started to walk towards the door, she didn't even think about how she didn't have any clothes on; the temperature was always nice anyway. She didn't think about how Asura and the Slyphid were calling to her, they were just voices anyway. She didn't notice everyone in the library staring at her as she passed through and up to the city; they weren't anyone she knew anyway. She went to the mage's school where she had taken her schooling before, but it wasn't there, at least she didn't need schooling anyway. She cried on the sidewalk, naked, alone, tired, and she didn't have anything left to believe in, she didn't have any willpower left, not that it mattered she felt like she didn't have anything more to live for anyway. She collapsed, she didn't think, she didn't cry, she didn't do anything except fall to the ground and pray that it was all just a dream.  
  
* * *  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Naxos asked Asura, both of them looking down at Dawne who was being covered by a white sheet. Naxos had just walked through the door, and he looked down at Dawne with sympathy and sadness, and also curiosity as to why she did what she did; it's not everyday you walk around a corner and find a long good friend of yours naked laying down on a street with a crowd of people around her waiting for something to happen.  
  
"I don't know, and that disturbs me to no end; for I always know. This is quite unnatural whatever it is that is happening to her. I think it might be some force that lies outside of this world, and maybe yours too." Asura told him with purpose on a voice that was so close to almost trembling. "Do you have any idea what could be causing this?"  
  
"Well, when we journeyed here she seemed fine... she was quite able to teleport us from the surface world to the lower world where the cave to here is located. Though when we did enter the cavern there was a near legion of soldiers lying dead on the ground. When I looked at them with eyes unhazed by reality, I found that it looked as if their very souls had been taking from their bodies. And that is never a natural thing by any means."  
  
Asura looked slightly confused "Teleported, like transportation. Anyway, didn't you say that it was our Milon that had caused all of the deaths that you saw?" Asura asked.  
  
"That's what I thought, but maybe I should go back and explore all of the corpses for more clues. And to think I thought she collapsed by emptying herself out."  
  
"What do you mean?" Asura asked.  
  
"I mean... well you know how we all have a point when casting that we simply cannot go any further and we need rest." Asura looked confused and very worried. "If I was to cast a spell like Exploding fire about 15 times then I'd probably collapse because at that point I reach my empty point. Its like I run out of spiritual energy and that saps my energy as well."  
  
"You can cast magic!" Asura was flabbergasted.  
  
"Well yes." Naxos said slowly, he had forgotten just how much had been taken from all of their memories. "All callers do, I can, so can Dawne here. How did you think we had killed Milon?"  
  
"I didn't know, and it's not my place to ask. I would have liked for Leviathan to have told me though." Asura said with aggravation trying to seep out of her. Asura was very good at keeping her emotions under check, but Naxos always had an eye for others emotions, most didn't believe that he did however sense he always seemed to not care. Well that was because he didn't care, not because he didn't know.  
  
"Yes, she cast a very powerful spell do destroy Milon. She collapsed because she reached her empty point." Asura looked at him blankly, like she was trying to understand. "Queen Asura, can you do the magic of psych?"  
  
"No, I heal and very little else."  
  
"Do you know any who do?"  
  
"I believe that any of the sylphs would."  
  
"Can you get one to come here?"  
  
"Yes, give me a moment." Asura walked by Naxos and through the doorway. A few moments later she returned through the door with a small greenish sylph in tow.  
  
"You know how to use the *psych don't you?" Asura asked the sylph.  
  
"I do." It replied  
  
"Good." Naxos started. "Because what we're going to be doing will take a little bit of innovation." Naxos smiled at the sylph and then at Asura.  
  
"What are you thinking?" Asura asked.  
  
"Have you ever inverted a spell?"  
  
"No, not really." Asura admitted.  
  
"Well, I hope it will be quite simple... would you mind showing me what it is that you do to create the psych effect good sylph?" Naxos asked  
  
The sylph looked at Asura and then Naxos, then it nodded its head as if signaling it was going to start. It lifted it's arms above it's small little head and then brought them down to both with palms outward and seemingly with it's wrist bones pointing towards a chair off in the distance it then said "Derentzon grenfral ormiumo natrion set mesk artrir!" Suddenly small green orbs appeared out of the chair and flew towards the sylph, which seemed to quickly absorb them.  
  
"That is how I use the psych." It said looking quite proud of itself.  
  
"Interesting, very very interesting." Naxos said as he looked over at the wall lost in thought, trying to figure out how to do the exact opposite.  
  
Suddenly from seemingly out of nowhere Naxos raised his hands above himself, then put them forward to him, and then pulled them back towards his chest as he shouted out. "Mesk artrir con netrion deretzon grenfral ormiumo!" Suddenly yellow balls of light burst out of Naxos and then flew into Dawne's body.  
  
Naxos knew what was coming, and knew that he would feel weak; unfortunately he didn't realize that he would fall down on his ass with such speed. His eyes began to haze as he tried to get up from the ground, and then he felt even more disorientated as his efforts at trying to get up failed miserably and he was on the ground once more. But he forced himself to not go unconscious like his body wanted him to; he forced himself to regain everything. He heard a voice though that made him know that he had done the right thing. He struggled and fought his way back from the darkness of sleep, towards the light. Naxos then felt himself lying down at the floor, with a small greenish creature looking at him from a few inches above his head. It looked down and said. "You are either the dumbest man I've ever met or the bravest, and I don't know yet." Naxos heard that, and knew that he could let himself fall asleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Naxos opened his eyes, and noticed that he was in the room where they had put Dawne down to rest when she was first not feeling well. It was the building only a short block from the library that nobody used. Naxos looked around to try and see if anyone was around, he felt fine now and with that luckily his vision was much better too mach. Sitting beside his bed was a small green sylph, who looked it was reading a book. Over sitting on the table was Dawne, slumped over looking quite bored.  
  
"How long have you two been waiting for me?" Was the first thing out of Naxos's mouth.  
  
Dawne turned around immediately with a giant grin on her face. And next to him the Slyphid jumped up as if he had frightened it's heart out of its chest. "Only about four hours!" Dawne exclaimed happily.  
  
"Really, well I'm glad that I didn't make you two wait too long then." Naxos said with heavy breath.  
  
"I'm so glad you came around quickly Naxos... They told me what you did, and I'm quite impressed to tell you the truth." Dawne paused looking him over. "Impressed by your unfathomable stupidity! You could have destroyed the entire city, the entire realm! You don't just play with arcane forces like that, you occasionally tweak things a little bit here and there, but to do what you did was stupid. Imagine what would have happened if..."  
  
"I just came to me all of a sudden, for the briefest of moments I could see everything, I knew everything about our arts and I knew exactly what to do... if that hadn't of happened I would probably have studied all night to make sure that I was doing the right thing, but it just hit me." Dawne gave Naxos a bizarre look, one that he had no idea what it meant other then maybe, I'm letting you off this time.  
  
"Naxos now would you care to tell me what the hell is going on then?"  
  
* * *  
  
Kain looked out the window to the bleakness of space, all he could see were bleak stars everywhere he looked, wherever he was going, it was taking him a much longer time to get their then it had ever taken before. "It is no longer a Ruby Moon, but a Ruby Planet I suppose. Or maybe even a Ruby meteor." Kain could not help but to stare at everything in space, even though that seemed like nothing at the time, for now he could no longer make out the Blue planet that he had come from. Nor could he see the gray, dead, moon that still circled the Earth. He could still see the sun, but looking at it no longer impaired his vision as much as it used to, for it was becoming very dim. Kain sat down on one of the beds in the back of the ship, but he could not fall asleep. He had been trying to sleep for nearly three days, but it never came to him. Kain began to wonder why the sleep would not come. Was he nervous over his friends who were still on the Earth? Or was he nervous that maybe  
this ship really didn't have any idea where it was taking him... though if he touched the crystal again it would take him back to Earth, but he wasn't about to do that yet, he still had to find the Ruby moon, it was still out there... he could feel it.  
  
"Those who write reviews shall be karmically rewarded."  
  
-Kain DeLuman  
  
*psych is the spell that drains MP, in case you forgot or something 


	5. The Origin of Magic

As a fore-note to my readers I have come upon a slew of complaints about my grammar, or should I say the lack thereof. Now notably for all of you that have gotten this far anyway; I thank you because you've been able to put up with the fact that I do make very obvious grammar mistakes. But you readers that have gotten this far into my books are worthy of praise, because it is you people that are able to recognize that a book isn't about the words, but the story, and for that I thank you. So to sum up; if you're reading this at all, thank you.  
  
  
  
The Origins of Magic  
  
"Well I can't hardly find myself to disagree with Kain, he's never really been wrong before. At least about things like this, he knows what we should do a whole lot better then we ever will." Dekan said, trying to be confident, but something in his voice lacked the confidence that he was trying to boast. Phantine was still very unsure of this plan, and she was more then slightly ticked off that Kain had wished to exclude her and Dekan from the plan making. She thought that she was supposed to be the light of the dawn after all. Doesn't that mean that she should know what she should do with herself at least? "Toroian though, that place has long been nearly deserted, it's like a shell in haunted woods. you do know that the woods near Toroian are haunted right? They're haunted with imps and tree people things, and all the monsters that were said to have been killed so long ago, but there they still live!" "Phantine, please calm yourself." Dekan said calmly himself. "Kain thinks that these clerics will still be there when we arrive, all eight of them, and there is no reason to doubt what he says." Phantine was about to say something to contradict him at this point but Dekan continued. "And besides if nothing else, we shall go through the ruins, look for these elder women and then if we do not find them we shall come back here and wait for news from either Dawne and Naxos, or from Kain himself. This is a very simple task really." "I suppose there is at least nothing that could really go all that wrong should we go there, but do you think that you can jump all the way over there? There are no way to transport ourselves there, no ships, no aircraft, and the mountains from there to here would not be a fun journey either." Phantine exclaimed to Dekan. Dekan simply waited and gave her a very simple almost innocent look and said. "Yes I can take you all that way my dear, but it shall not be by legs that I am able to do so, but by the blessings of the wind itself. Now quickly we should walk a ways from this City of Mist so that none see our departure." "Is there anything that we need to take with us?" Phantine asked, and then slowly breathed out, she believed that she was relaxing more now, she always had such a hard time going from stressed to relaxed or anything for that matter. Dekan got out of their bed and put on his humble clothing picked up his spear from up against the side of a wall and looked at her and said. "If nothing else, this is all I need. Though if you wish to bring some creature comforts with you, I would not blame you." "Do you think you could have the wind lift a bed with us on our journey?" Phantine said with a giggle nearly coming out of her mouth. "I think that that might be a bit too much on the creature comforts size, how about just things that can fit inside of a small bag, such as a nice toothbrush and some extra clothing." Dekan said, making Phantine wonder if he had understood his sarcasm. Phantine picked up her sword and sheath from the table where she had left them both the night before, unsheathed the sword and placed it's edge next to Dekan's neck and said to him in a very playful manor. "I, sir dragoon, shall take with me whatever I wish, and should I wish to take an entire bedroom then you shall oblige." She said with a grin that looked sweetly evil. "Whatever you wish my lady paladin of the light." Dekan said taking himself to bow before her. "However then I believe the trip shall take a slight bit longer." He said looking into her eyes and smiling at her. "Very well then." Phantine said with fake exasperation. "I suppose I shall have to take along a few fewer items then I suppose." And with that Phantine and Dekan began to laugh and they didn't stop for quite a few minutes. Phantine stopped for a few moments and thought to herself that it felt so good to laugh now, she hadn't had a good laugh for so long. Everything had just been far too serious, trying to save the world and everything.  
  
* * *  
  
Naxos got up from his bed finally, it had taken him nearly two days to work up the strength to finally be able to do that, and in all that time the sylph had kept him company. It had to have been the nicest creature that Naxos had ever meet, it read to him when he was awake, and talked with him about all sorts of interesting things, but most of all it listened when he wished to talk. Naxos could not remember the last time someone had really and truly listened to him while he talked, most just obliged him, this small greenish creature listened and when he was done talking it gave him a smile that told him that everything was going to be all right. Naxos wished he could look at that smile for the rest of his life, he knew that if he could he would die a happy man. "Oh how very good master Naxos, I shall go fetch Dawne and tell her that you can now stand and walk, she will be very pleased I think." The little sylph told him and then rushed out of the wooden door. "A little rest was all I needed, that is all that anyone ever needs to recover from most non-lethal wounds I would think." Naxos said to himself, and even he could tell that here was an air of snoodyness to his voice. He then sat back down on his bed of pure white, he had always wondered though where the cloth for these was created, there weren't any cotton producing areas here, magic, he thought to himself, that can make anything. Naxos began thinking for a second and then he started talking to himself. "Now I must figure out how to get these fools here to go to the surface and help us with the war that we must wage. I told Kain that I would make the overworld burn from the heat the war down here would create, now I must figure out some way to get this to happen quickly." And Naxos laid his head down on the pillow and began to ponder when suddenly something clicked in his mind, he wasn't sure if that would allow him to win these people over, but it would be something. Dawne walked through the door looking very tired, she eyed him and said. "Well good to see you up and around, we'll be walking out of here very shortly I think" "Just us?" Naxos replied "Just us." "Well then allow me to give us another option if you don't mind." Dawne raised her eyebrow and with a confused look on her face she said. "Naxos, what in the world are you. no wait, never mind. I don't care, we're leaving here tomorrow." "Very well then. But I'm not going with you, I'm going to stay here and get these people memories back. They're real memories, not the ones that Milon or someone somehow was able to put into them." Dekan said with a bit of gusto and pride in himself. "I don't think that will help, these people are set in their ways." "Well yes, they're set in their ways because they've never known anything else, never even heard of another world until we came along. I think that maybe, just maybe if we can do this it would at least be worth a second try at convincing them." "But they're just regular people now! They're not the callers of old like we have become, they don't know the slightest bit of magic. And we can't bring the summoned ones from out of here unless we summon them ourselves, and we can't keep them out too long anyway. Just forget about it Naxos, this situation is hopeless." Dawne said with a heavy breath, she was tired and frustrated, and Naxos didn't blame her for being either. "Perhaps if they had their memories back those that could create spells could remember how. Come now, let us give it a try quickly, every day here is anywhere between a couple days and a month on the surface." "Alright. We'll give it a try, and just how are you planning on doing this anyway?" "Have you ever used a dispelling spell before." "Yes of course, everyone learns those, that can learn them of course." "Well if use an inextrar dispel then." "Then all enchantments that have ever been cast upon something for it's entire life will be eradicated utterly, yes I know." Dawne interrupted, and then said calmly. "I guess we could try it; though I doubt it will work." Naxos calmly and slowly walked out of the room, with Dawne following him. "Where are you going?" Dawne asked. "I'm going to find Leviathan." "So you're going to find the most powerful of all the summoned ones, and use a spell that was designed only for humans to try and dispel what we think is a mental enchantment, but could be something else. Do I have that right?" Dawne said sounding more then a little bit worried. "Yes." Naxos said, continuing to walk towards the library. "Well I hope this doesn't blow up in your face, literally of course." Dawne said with a slight smile on her face. "It won't, I have faith in myself. I know what I'm doing and I will succeed." Naxos said to himself as much as he did to Dawne, though he hoped that she didn't figure that out. Naxos and Dawne continued to walk towards the library and Leviathan, but the experience was more then a slight hassle for Naxos, just the slow pace he was using right now was making his head spin. At one point Naxos was forced to stop and rest at a corner of a building as to give him time to make the world stop spinning. And while he stopped, Dawne just stood, and hovered above him giving him a curios look that he couldn't identify, perhaps it was pity, but more likely it was that she thought he was a fool and wished to tell him with more then just words. And when the world finally did start moving the way it was supposed to, Naxos stood up and said. "Would it be so hard for you to have a little faith in me?" The two walked the rest of the distance to the library in silence. They entered the library, the smell of old paper filling them as they wandered through the countless shelves; though they knew exactly where they were going, though it still felt like wandering. Naxos and Dawne finally reached the second basement and the throne room of Lord Leviathan. There it looked as though he was having an important conversation with a half- crazed sounding Rahum. As such Dawne and Naxos stayed on the stairwell just out of sight listening. "My lord, what they speak is heresy. They are our enemies and they have been lying to us so that we should trust them, do you not remember the lessons that King Bahamut taught us so long ago. 'Never trust the humans with the ability to summon, for they will drag you to from your homes and leave you in their world to die.' That is what he told us m'lord. And remember just a few short months ago I myself was summoned by one of these foul creatures, I tell you now I had no control what so ever of myself I was forced to bend knee, and do their bidding. And now I barely have any recollection of the events, but I know it was the boy that summoned me, or it might have been the girl I'm not sure, but I know that it was one of them!" "It was me you old fool." Naxos said stepping into the light of the throne room, though for the first time Naxos noticed that there weren't any torches or any light producing objects in the room, where was the light coming from? He wondered to himself for a brief moment, but then continued. "You helped us to retrieve the crystal of fire, and by doing so helped save that world." Rahum was about to start what was probably going to be a long rant at Naxos about how he wouldn't haven't wanted to save their world; but Naxos stopped him before he could utter a single word. "No look, Bahamut never told you that, you just believe that he did. I believe that somehow your memories were changed, and because of that I would like to try a simple spell on one of the summoned ones to prove my theory." "What does this spell of yours do?" Leviathan asked with a cold logical tone that Naxos admired. "The spell erases all enchantments placed on a person's mind, and as there are very few mental based enchantments used commonly for beneficial use, this spell should prove little risk. If nothing happens after it is casted we should know that me and Dawne here our wrong and we will leave, and if the spell works, then we shall need to cast it on nearly everyone in this place I believe." Naxos said, knowing that part of that was a lie, but he didn't care, he needed this summoned ones to agree, he needed there help, and so did Kain. Leviathan nodded quietly, while Rahum looked at him befuddled. "My lord how can you even consider that these dark imps could be doing will help us, they probably just wish to program our minds with this spell of theirs." "As so far, they have done nothing to directly harm us, have they Rahum?" "Not directly sir, but remember the words of Bahamut, and remember that he is our true king, you are just one of his probably many, many lords." "Probably, but I think that these two have given us no reason not to trust them, and ample reasons to trust them. And to prove to you Rahum o' master of the thunder and lit, I shall be there first customer. Now how long till you can cast this spell of yours Naxos?" "Right now if you so wish my lord Leviathan." Naxos said anxiously thinking afterward that he should have said it a bit slower and more cautiously as to give Leviathan the impression that. "Very good then." Leviathan said and then moved off of the throne where he had been siting, and moved over next to Rahum and whispered to the elder summoned one, though not very well as Dawne and Naxos could hear him almost perfectly. "Rahum if I begin acting like a slave or something along those lines, make them unconscious, but don't kill them, do you understand? I had better not wake up to find you standing over their corpses triumphantly or else you shall be very sorry." "I understand." Rahum whispered back, at about the same volume. Naxos realized then that Rahum must have been very old as to him he was whispering, but he couldn't hear probably at all at this point in his age. As from what Naxos last remembered. This particular summoned one was nearly 14,000 years old. "Now Naxos come over hear and cast this miracle spell of yours if you would, I'm very entertained by the chance that my whole life has been a lie." "Not your whole life just, very important parts of it lord Leviathan." Naxos said almost sounding cheerful, suddenly he could feel hot eyes on the back of his neck. He turned around to see Dawne, he had nearly forgotten that she was back there, and for some reason she looked incredibly annoyed. But now was not the time to care about that, Naxos thought to himself. "Now my lord if you would be kind enough to have a seat." "Of course child." Leviathan said and then walked up a step to his throne that was very little more then a nice looking chair. "Now do your worst." Leviathan said with a hearty laugh. Naxos stood to the right of the great lord and concentrated trying to remember everything exactly the way they had taught him. Every hand movement, gesture and the pronunciation of every dead word he spoke, and then at the end he remembered the part that he wanted to tweak. "Ura omernason zon amtros edan, me clartio char." Suddenly light appeared around the old lord of the summoned. An odd grey light, Naxos couldn't remember ever seeing a grey light before, but decided that it most just be a side reaction of the slight change he had made. The grey light though seemed to be absorbed by Leviathan and then a few seconds after it had all disappeared the light flared out in small balls of light that looked like the balls of light created from the use of the crystal on Zeromus. The room then became a great deal smaller all of a sudden as Leviathan was reverted back to his original form of a huge sea serpent. The began to flail around and Naxos was thrown against a wall by the force of a 300 foot long serpent trying to move everywhere and anywhere at once. And then the room began to spin for Naxos and he couldn't concentrate any longer, his vision was becoming blurry. Then suddenly the flailing serpent body disappeared from over his head and he looked up to see an old kingly looking man staring down at him with an odd look on his face. Then there was another face looking down on him, but from further away. "Dawne, nice to see you curios about my health now help me up if you please." Dawne gave a small frown and put her hand down for him to grasp onto. Naxos lifted himself up at great difficulty as the room would not stay still, but somehow he managed to stand up on his own two feet again. Then he looked at the three, no two, no three, Leviathans standing in front of him. "That was a very dangerous thing you just did there Naxos, if I were you I wouldn't use that spell on your old teacher Hannister, he would have your head for trying such a trick." Leviathan said with a strange smile being created on all three faces. Or maybe it was just one, the sound was coming from only one direction how odd. Naxos thought. "Yes I may just not go, to do what I did not want to just do, not to do with the not doing that your lordships." Naxos said with a confused dignity, that he was not sure how he mustered. "Naxos are you alright? You look pale." Dawne said with at least five eyes staring directly into his. "Nothing a little sleep can't cure, didn't I tell you that before sleep will cure all wounds, even the fatal ones, or was that the non fatal ones but the fatal ones are to be expunged at a later date. Well I don't remember, but I'm sure you do, you seem to know everything; or at least you think you do." Dawne looked almost horrified for some reason. "Naxos I think you have no idea what you're talking about, now hold on just a sec, just stand still and don't say anything." Naxos was greatly angered by this as he thought to himself, she's telling me to shut up. how dare she do that! I'm far supierious to her why if it weren't for me she'd still be a baby in her mother's womb. In fact if it weren't for me she probably never would have been conceived by her father and her uncle. Or was it her grandfather and her something, well I can't remember who her parent's are, but they never even would have met if it weren't for me being at that party to tell them about her and how pretty Dawne is. Light curse me she's beautiful, not that it matters though I mean hell everyone knows that she wants to get inside of Kain's pants, not mine. Eh I don't even have that great of pants anyway, they're kind of ratty; I should get a decent pair of pants. Yeah, a decent pair of pants would be nice. As Naxos thought this out in his head he never even heard Dawne's arcane words, and never really noticed when he went from standing up to sitting down and then laying down and then suddenly he was asleep. Oh well, Naxos thought, I like sleeping its very relaxing.  
  
* * *  
  
Dawne looked down at the poor fool then she looked at Leviathan and said. "You know, I always knew he was insane, and now I have proof." Leviathan and Rahum both gave a scoffing laugh to this. "How odd," Leviathan commented "I would have thought that a severe blow to the head wouldn't have done that kind of injury. If you know the white magic Dawne I would ask you to use it now for him." "No." Dawne said slowly after a pause. "I want him to wake up with a terrible headache for all that he has put me through." "And just what horribleness has he put you through for you to wish this upon him?" "Well he's always just making things up off the top of his head, he never thinks things through anymore. he used to thorough. He used to be nothing but stone, thanks to Kain. I think maybe being in this place has brought out something in him, he's never cast spells of such variety before either. " "That sounds like a good thing." Leviathan said in a wise yet coy tone. Dawne was enraged by this old fool, she thought for a second maybe he had his memory back, but apparently he still had no idea about the methods of sorcery. "Lord Leviathan, not to sound arrogant or anything about this, but you must not have any idea about what you're talking about! Naxos was tweaking with spells, you're not allowed to do that! Ever person that has ever studied any form of magic knows that, everyone. I mean should that not have worked the way that he thought that it would have it could have killed us all. It could have wiped out your entire mind, and left you a hollow shell. So I must tell you that, no it is not a good idea to use such 'variety' in ones spells, you should only use those spells that have been taught and memorized. Not just throwing around arcane words, gestures, and symbols around as he wills." Dawne breathed out slowly and heavily to signify that she had finished. "Where do you think magic came from Dawne?" "Magic comes from the words and the gestures and the symbols and runes and all of the other things that we use in our sorcery." Dawne said simply. "No child, where did magic come from originally?" Leviathan asked slowly and solidly, sounding quite the sage. Dawne stood puzzled for nearly a minute. She had never truly thought about where magic had come from. Well in fact no one had ever taught her; so she just assumed that either no one knew or cared. This made her more curios that Leviathan might know this and had never told anyone. As such Dawne made the most logical guess that came to her mind. "The summoned ones created magic?" "No child." Dawne stood wondering what it could possibly be then, and had a look on her face to show Leviathan that was what was on her mind. "You see child, it is people like Naxos that created magic." Dawne now stood with her jaw hanging wondering if what Leviathan had just said was true. "Now if you will excuse me I will take Naxos here to Asura, she is fluent in the healing arts and will be delighted to heal the boy when I tell her that he can unlock her true memories." And at that, Leviathan, a skinny old man with as many liver spots as children have freckles lifted up Naxos and carried him up the stairs to wherever Asura was with Rahum following him asking him questions. Dawne just stood in the throne room however completely confused and wishing that Kain could be there to explain it all to her, she was so confused, and that made her cold. Light how she hated being confused.  
  
* * *  
  
Phantine and Dekan walked briskly out of the town of mist, a slight cold had entered the valley this morning and she was not the kind of person that enjoyed the cold, at all. As they walked through the streets she noticed that there was a newfound sense of mourning and confusion on the people's faces. She knew then that the news of what had happened in Baron was finally getting to the people, no one wanted to believe whatever they had been told, and she was sure that there were thousands of rumors abounding about the situation. Though she hadn't even talked to one person about it, she knew that that was what had happened. As she walked further through the city of Mist, a woman sat behind a small wooden counter that she must use for selling wares during the day, but today there were now wares out, only a sign overhead that read. "Repent the time of the turning is here." Written in a calm cool hand Phantine noted. The woman behind the counter must not have written it then as she could barely look up to stop from crying, must have had family or friends she thought. The two finally reached the city limits of Mist and as they walked through the countryside Dekan turned to face her while she was walking and said to her. "Do you think we should have done something about that back there?" "Done something about what?" Phantine said confused. "Done something about all those people that didn't know what was going on, we could have rallied them or something, we could have told them to the truth of what happened and probably some of them might have become sympathizers or something like that to us. But we just ignored them." Dekan said sounding sad and she could tell that he thought they should have done a lot. "Kain told us to go to Toroian, and that's where we are going. There we shall meet eight wise cleric women at the castle, or ruins thereof. These women, can and will act as some sort of guides for us, or at least tell us what we should do. And if nothing else, they can aid me in learning how to fight sense Toroian used to be the kingdom of women warriors. That's what were doing, and we are to do it with all immediate speed." Dawne said sounding dry and dull. "I understand." Dekan said bleakly as well, both of them thought that they should have done something, but there was always the chance that that wouldn't have worked out right. And then where would they be? They would be two silly teenagers who think they're going to save the world with a great deal more enemies. Dekan sighed and looked around and then at Phantine. "I don't see anyone around here, we could try jumping right here if you'd like?" "I suppose, but be gentle Dekan, I've never done this before with you and I won't kid you by saying that I'm a bit nervous." Phantine said, and to her word she did sound nervous. Dekan smiled, that loving smile that Phantine had fell in love with a long time ago and said to her as he grabbed onto her and wrapped his arms around her. "I shall be as gentle as a warm breeze." And he jumped into the air, but before his jump could arc, something caught them. Dekan was right, Phantine thought as the wind swept them up, gentle as a warm breeze.  
  
"Those who right reviews shall be karmically rewarded." -Kain DeLuman 


End file.
